High School Bible Study

We are growing deep and wide in our Tuesday night Bible Study! The depth is coming from both the focused lessons written by Mercy Street staff, and the vibrant faith of our amazing small group leaders.

We spent the month of September on the topic of Friendship. We believe that bad company corrupts good morals, so we wanted to start the year off by challenging our students to FIND good friends and to BE good friends.  The month of October will be devoted to discussion surrounding Faith. We will start by addressing WHY we need a Savior, then spend a couple weeks discussing what a vibrant faith looks like practically. The first three Tuesdays of every month we eat together, play some games, have a short talk that frames our lesson, and then spend about an hour fleshing things out in small group settings. The LAST Tuesday of every month is a PARTY night where we take the kids out for fun and fellowship. Our prayer is that the laid back change of scenery will give the leaders opportunities to establish deeper bonds with our students through Christ-filled conversation and lots of laughter.

We would LOVE for you to get involved in our Bible studies! Mentors, students, parents and friends are all welcome to come hang out with us as we lock arms and walk toward Jesus.

Preview of the next several posts: Small Group Leader bios! We couldn't be more thrilled about the quality of leaders the Lord has led to Mercy Street. You'll have the opportunity to get a glimpse into their lives here on our blog in the weeks to come.

The God Who Provides

I saw an old white man with a long beard and faded collar shirt, screaming in the intersection of Hampton and Singleton the other day.  On the other corner was a young guy in his twenties with a long beard and nasty backpack, screaming and stumbling and obviously strung out on something.  Just the night before I’d watched a car pull up to my neighbor’s house – the man was feigning for meth and they cussed and threatened each other’s lives in the name of the precious drug.  I thought about some friends who abuse prescription drugs so heavily that they’re no longer mentally or emotionally present in our conversations; they’re walking zombies.

The scenes running through my mind only perpetuated my feelings of hopeless about the state of our world.  There’s tragedy on every corner of every neighborhood in the world.  So many people who are abused – physically, sexually, emotionally, verbally.  So many kids are abandoned; whether by dads who bolt at birth or workaholic parents who don’t know the children who sleep in their home.  So many people are suffering from mental illness while others are enslaved to addictions they never intended to start.  All of us our victims and perpetrators, wounded and wounding.

 

I thought about how mentors sign up to meet some of the specific needs of our community in West Dallas, but then mentors have their own burdens that keep distance between them and their students.  Then my shortcomings came to mind and I was discouraged by my inability to do more for our high school girls.  I passed Fiesta, then Pinkston, then the homes in Lakewest, and I felt utterly hopeless for the tragedies of our world to turn around.  Sometimes it feels like the cycle of selfishness is carried by each of us and breathed onto everyone around us, and it can all feel so helpless.  

Our God is the God who provides. That ray of truth burst through my hopeless cloud and brought my cynical thoughts to a halt.  Initially I thought to myself, “Yeah right God.  You’re going to provide new dads for all the abandoned kids in the world?”  And I felt the weight of the truth that our God is the Father who provides for His children.  I tend to reject that idea because I’ve heard it misused so many times – as if God is a big piggy bank who pours out coins on his children when they behave.  But when I choose to reject the TRUTH that our God is a God who provides, I’m choosing to deny the power of Christ’s sacrifice for us.  

I thought about the story of Abraham, where he explicitly refers to God as his provider.  His conversation with his son, Isaac, is such a startling yet refreshing story of faith.  As they were heading up to the altar to offer a sacrifice, Isaac said to his dad: "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"  And Abraham replied, "God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." (Genesis 22)  Ultimately, God did provide the lamb for that offering – and it’s a foreshadowing of the offering He provides for every single human being to ever walk the face of the earth.  The offering is Jesus Christ, who came in human form, to defeat death and extend an invitation for us to rise with Him in the newness of life.

Because Jesus came to dwell among us, He provided a way out of the addictions that hold us in their grips of death.  Because Jesus died on our behalf, He provided a way for those of us who are drowning in despair to find life.  Jesus provided the ability for us to get off ourselves long enough to enter into someone else’s life – to love them right where they are, in the middle of their mess.  Jesus provided a way for us to share in His work of redemption in the lives of individual students in West Dallas even when we feel like we don’t have any time or answers.  God has provided everything we need to follow Him wholeheartedly and serve the world around us.  The answer is to run after Jesus with all our hearts; to live like He lived and value the things He valued. It seems like an impossible task until we remember He's already made the way for us. 

Keepin' it Real

She gasped and her clasped her hand to her mouth: “You did WHAT?!”  I’d just opened up to a mentor of mine about the messy situation I was in and suddenly wanted to crawl out of the window and ride in the trunk until we reached Chick-fil-a.  I started sweating the moment I saw the shock on her face – that was precisely the response I was so horrified to receive.  I’d just invited her into a secret part of my life because I trusted her and craved her wisdom, and I felt totally judged. 

She quickly apologized and admitted that’s the worst response she could give to a high schooler who’s just made such a vulnerable admission.  I appreciated her apology, but it was a little too late.  Her feelings of shock and repulsion were revealed in her response to me and there was no recovering.  The wall went up.  Of course she could reflect on her response and try to make it more palatable for me, but what was in her came out in her initial moment of disbelief.  I decided she was not a safe person to be honest with when my life wasn’t sunshine and roses.  I resolved to keep our conversation on the surface from then on, if I was going to converse with her at all.

High school students are thrown into grown up games and find themselves in situations that might be shocking and difficult to handle.  How do we create a safe place for them to share things they desperately need to talk about? How do we avoid gasping and screaming out of utter disbelief?  Here are a few things to consider when working toward creating a safe space for your students:

1.       Be honest with yourself!  My mentor’s response revealed a degree of self-righteousness.  The Bible says our hearts are all desperately wicked until Jesus comes along and cleans us up on the inside.  When we’re honest with ourselves about our own secrete desires and selfish motivations, we won’t be surprised by the sins of others.
2.       Be honest with your students!  How can we expect our students to be vulnerable with us if we never share our struggles with them?  They’ll be intimidated by our perceived perfection and assume we’ll never understand their situations.  We don’t have to vomit all our deepest, darkest secrets on them prematurely, but we can share insecurities and ways we’ve missed the mark.  Our transparency assure them we’re in the same boat as them: sinners in need of a Savior. 
3.        Ask honest questions.  Once you’ve paved the way to vulnerable sharing by being real with your own shortcomings, invite them to join you.  Students rarely initiate conversations about sensitive issues or deep areas of angst.  They need to know you don’t expect them to be perfect and that you’re interested to take things deeper.  Find casual moments to ask pointed questions, such as car rides or while you’re watching games.  I guarantee you, they’ll feel special when they realize you want to really know them and not simply the image they portray.

You’ve earned the right to go deeper with your students by the time they’re in high school.  Students are hard pressed to find safe places to share their junk.  Provide that space for them by initiating the move because they’re dying to be known!